Mr. Thrum,
in a pamphlet on "The Suspended Activity of Kilauea," says of it:
"Distant rumbling noises were heard, accompanied by a series of
earthquakes, forty-three in number. With the fourth shock the brilliancy
of New Lake disappeared, and towards 3 A. M. the fires in Halemaumau
disappeared also, leaving the whole crater in darkness.
"With the dawn the shocks and noises ceased, and revealed the
changes which Kilauea had undergone in the night. All the high cliffs
surrounding Halemaumau and New Lake, which had become a prominent
feature in the crater, had vanished entirely, and the molten lava of
both lakes had disappeared by some subterranean passage from the bottom
of Halemaumau. There was no material change in the sunken portion of the
crater except a continual falling in of rocks and debris from its
banks as the contraction from its former intense heat loosened their
compactness and sent them hurling some 200 or 300 feet below, giving
forth at times a boom as of distant thunder, followed by clouds
of cinders and ashes shooting up into the air 100 to 300 feet,
proportionate, doubtless, to the size of the newly fallen mass.
"This remarkable recession of the liquid lava in Halemaumau was probably
due to the opening of some deep subterranean passage through which the
lake of lava made its way unseen to the ocean's depths. The Rev. Mr.
Baker, probably the most adventuresome explorer of Hawaiian volcanoes,
actually descended into that crumbling pit to a point within what he
judged to be fifty feet of the bottom.
Pages:
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366